I have celebrated Labor Day this year by NOT laboring very much.
I did the laundry and vacuumed the first floor tiled areas, but that’s about it. I have enjoyed reading and napping and watching TV, talking with my husband, playing with Amber, the dog, and Abby, the cat. It’s been a lovely day.
Tomorrow will be full of work and errands, but that’s tomorrow.
Happy Labor Day.
Filed under .gifs I Love, holidays
We had a quiet celebration yesterday. Last night our wonderful neighbors in the valley put on a beautiful display of fireworks. They don’t know how much I look forward to it. :0)
Independence Day was my father’s favorite holiday. He used to get a whole double-armful of ‘ladyfingers’ that were all tied together. You were supposed to untie each one and set it off. My dad would light the one on one end, then throw the whole bunch into the yard. Each went off with a bang, making the whole bunch jump with non-stop bangs. The group jumped all over the yard by the time it was finished. He would stand there watching with a huge grin on his face.
He had a challenging couple of years the result of which was that his vision was mostly gone. (My mom laboriously copied the cryptoquote from the newspaper onto a huge piece of paper with a sharpie so that he could try to work it every day.)
In preparation for the holiday, he had bought the usual fireworks he loved, including some ones for after dark. My husband and I were dating, and we all had dinner together, my dad having grill chicken quarters outside. My husband picked up the mantle without a word, setting off the fireworks for all of us, having my dad ‘choose’ which one was next. Of course, the celebration started with the ladyfinger ‘detonation.’ We followed that with my favorite ‘snakes’ and ‘sparklers.’
Finally, my husband set off the night ones, one at a time, with my dad choosing the order. It was super hot that year, and I brought out a wet washcloth so my husband could mop his face. When the display was finished, my dad had tears quietly rolling down his face as he smiled. He stood up, put his hand out in thanks to my husband, then pulled him in for a hug.
If I hadn’t already decided my husband was the one, that would have sealed the deal.
Have a love-filled celebration today.
Our little town of Greenwood is celebrating Independence Day today. My husband and I steer clear of crowds, so we’ll stay home today. For many years I rented a spot on the square to sell my wares. I met a lot of nice people doing that, happy to see so many people out with their kids, having a good time. The city also puts on a fireworks display.
Happily, our neighbor down in the valley behind us usually sets off a bunch, too, so I can enjoy my “own, private fireworks display”, sitting on my porch with my feet up, coffee cup in hand.
This year is confusing. Greenwood – and I guess many other places – celebrating the holiday today. The actual holiday is tomorrow. Will people get the day off on Monday?
When I first heard this song, chills ran up and down my spine. My heart was in my throat as I listened. The chills continued throughout. This song says everything, as far as I’m concerned. I still get chills. I hope you enjoy it, too.
A Heart-filled Independence Day – whenever and wherever you are celebrating.
Happy Mother’s Day to my mom, Betty Hamblin Wheaton. She would have been 98 this coming July. She was one of the strongest, most admirable women I’ve known, and I was lucky to share part of her life.
She loved small or baby animals. They simply melted her heart. Not so much when they grew up or grew large. My dad tried to indulge her weakness, and one of my favorite memories was when she would gush over a picture or video of a baby ‘whatever,’ and then would look at my dad and say firmly, “BUT I DON’T WANT ONE!”
She usually had several small dogs at once. She loved chihuahuas. At one point she had two, plus a toy poodle (shown here.) All three would sit with her in her chair in the living room. She would have a coffee cup by her side, the three dogs, plus a big lapboard on which she would spread the New York Times Sunday Crossword Puzzle and the CryptoQuote. She would sit there industriously working on the board, drinking coffee, and talking TO (or FOR) all the doggies.
She was super smart. Her dad considered educating women a waste of money. She wanted to go to the University of Chicago, but he said no. She ended up going to Cottey College in Nevada, MO where they lived. It was a two-year college. She only got to attend one year, living at home, and finished everything they offered for the two-year course in one year, with the exception of one gym class, which wasn’t offered when she could work it into her schedule.
She was gutsy. My dad got the chance to get into advertising, something he really wanted to do, after they had been married about 9 years. They were living on Long Island in Levittown at the time. I was 5 and my brother was about 8. My mother loved going to shows in New York City. She loved the big city life, even though things were tough at that point due to the world war, rationing, etc. The ‘catch’ on the chance for the job was that it was in Tulsa, Oklahoma. My mom had to get a map to find out where that WAS, and she was appalled. But they bundled us up and we moved to a place where we had to drive quite far away to get groceries, and we took a bus to the closest school. A lady came on her horse to say hello and welcome us to the neighborhood. She and the horse stood in what would later be our living room. Each house was built on an acre and a quarter. There were two mile-long streets between Sheridan and Memorial streets – 24th Street and 25th Place. The lady on the horse would much later become my mother-in-law.
My mom never went back to school. She should have been a lawyer. She read voraciously and worked the crossword puzzle in the paper every day, including the Sunday one which was a post-graduate course in vocabulary. She would go to community meetings, fired up about one thing or another. She would stand up, saying what she had to say in a very impressive manner. She persuaded people to adopt her point of view. One funny thing – if she were really angry, her words would get longer and longer as she spoke. Her vocabulary was amazing. Sometimes she would tell someone off, and the person wasn’t sure exactly what she had said – unless they could remember the words and look them up in the dictionary when they got home. :0)
I’m proud of my mom. I miss her. I feel her most strongly when I’m sticking my neck out, trying something new, cheering me on. Happy Mother’s Day.
Actually, the ‘crowd’ was my husband, our dog, Amber, and our cat, Abby, and me, but HEY! – you have to take your joy where you can get it.
We have been eating the things we don’t eat at all – or rarely – in the last days before we get serious about getting the lard off again. Yesterday I made a crock pot full of beef stew. And we had rolls with it. Amber and Abby licked our bowls in the kitchen while we were cleaning up.
My husband said two or three times while eating it how good it was, and a couple of times afterward. Then, this morning, he asked if we had leftovers and if we could have more tonight. :0)
As I gathered trash this morning, I got rid of some more things that we shouldn’t be eating in preparation for our getting serious about trying to lose the lard. We should be starting formally, as well as upping my exercising on Thursday. Right now I’m doing yoga stretches, but that’s pretty much it.
We have had a nice long break from doing what we are supposed to do. Part of me is actually looking forward to being in control again. Isn’t THAT a kick in the head!
Filed under Attitude, DIET!, exercise, holidays, taking care of yourself
My Wish for You in 2021
“May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts.
May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet of $100 bills.
May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips!
May your clothes smell of success like smoking tires.
May happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy.
May the problems you had forget your home address!
In simple words ………… May 2021 be the best year of your life!!!”
Author Unknown
Filed under .gifs I Love, Favorite Quotes, holidays
Cookies, candy, bread. Chocolate, apple fritters, peanut brittle. We’re surrounded, and we’re eating our way out. It’s delicious. I’m telling my husband that all this ends VERY SOON – as we stuff yet another wonderful thing into our mouths. It’s been a year or two since we have eaten some of this stuff. I’m blaming it all on our generous friends who GAVE this to us, but WE’RE the ones who are stuffing our faces.
I’ve decided that, since we’re adults, we are merely getting all this gorging out of the happy way, and that once it is over, we will EAT like adults again. We are talking about the fact that anything ELSE that finds its way into our house and is not a gift is on US – and should not happen. (I’m also reminding myself that “I” am responsible for what goes into MY mouth. So even if my husband continues this holiday splurge, “I” will not.
I will not.
I will NOT.
:0)
Filed under DIET!, getting the lard off, holidays
My husband and I have decided that life is too short to feel guilty all the time. During the holidays, plus the change of weather, plus this awful pandemic, plus – we will finish out 2020 stuffing our faces. Well, not really, but not raking ourselves over the coals, either, when we overindulge.
We got lots of goodies from friends. We are going to enjoy some of them. We are freezing some for later, enjoying some now, and enjoying some comfort foods.
We are now – finally – into a lifestyle of eating good food, watching our portions, foregoing lots of things, such as sugar, bread, starches, excess carbs, etc. I am trying to exercise on a daily basis, and move more in general. We want to lose the lard, become more flexible, improve strength and balance, and improve the numbers on our quarterly or every-six-month routine monitoring blood tests.
BUT – for a little while – we are allowing the kid in us to come out and play, enjoying the ‘season’, smiling as we enjoy the lovely things that aren’t so great for our health, but make life much more worth living for a few days each year.
May we all be much healthier in 2021, eventually free from worry about the virus.
Stay safe and well.
Filed under DIET!, exercise, Healthy Eating, holidays
I plan to be very lazy today.
Our Thanksgiving celebration will be my husband and I this year. Our son lives in Thailand and we – and all of our friends we usually ask to share our meal – are all in the high risk group in the pandemic. We are thankful we are here to celebrate a hopefully calm, quiet day filled with good food and lots of love.
I will make deviled eggs today – one of my husband’s and my favorite things. Other than that, we will just heat things up when we’re ready to enjoy. We’ll have rotisserie chicken, potato salad, baked beans, and deviled eggs, with peanut brittle for dessert. :0)
We will probably watch more of a new series (to us) we discovered last night. It’s called, “His Dark Materials,” and it a series with a similar theme to “The Golden Compass” movie. We binge watched 4 episodes from Season 1 last night and are hooked.
I’m planning to be super-lazy today. No big projects inside or out. I’m going to enjoy reading my book in my recliner and maybe even curl up under my throw and zonk out for awhile. Ahhhhhhhhh!
I hope that you are safe and well this Thanksgiving.
Filed under Uncategorized
Quarryville Fire Dept
Today, as we honor those who died defending our country, I wanted to share an forward I received from my good friend, Marsha Koenig. The name of it is, “You Could Have Heard a Pin Drop,” and I hope we keep this circulating.
______
JFK’S Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early 60’s when
DeGaulle decided to pull out of NATO. DeGaulle said he wanted all US
military out of France as soon as possible.
Rusk responded,
“Does that include those who are buried here?”
DeGaulle
did not respond.
You could have heard a pin drop.
______
When in England ,
at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the
Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of
’empire building’ by George Bush.
He answered by saying,
“Over the years, the United States has sent many of
its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom
beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for
in return is enough to bury those that did not
return.”
You could have heard a pin drop.
_______
There was a conference in France
where a number of international engineers
were taking part, including French and American. During a break,
one of the French engineers came back into the room saying, “Have you
heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft
carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he
intend to do, bomb them?”
A Boeing engineer
stood up and replied quietly: “Our carriers have three
hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are
nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to
shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to
feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand
gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a
dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and
from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships;
how many does France have?”
You could have heard a pin drop.
_______
A U.S. Navy Admiral
was attending a naval conference that included
Admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian and French
Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large
group of officers that included personnel from most of those countries.
Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a
French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many
languages, Americans learn only English. He then asked, “Why is it that
we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than
speaking French?”
Without hesitating the American Admiral replied, “Maybe it’s because the
Brit’s, Canadians, Aussie’s and Americans arranged it so you wouldn’t
have to speak German.”
You could have heard a pin drop.
________
AND
THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE…
Robert Whiting,
an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane.
At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport
in his carry on
“You have been to France before, monsieur?” the customs officer asked
sarcastically.
Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously.
“Then you should know enough to have your passport ready.”
The American said,
“The last time I was here, I didn’t have to show it.”
“Impossible.. Americans always have to show their passports on arrival in France !”
The American senior
gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he
quietly explained, ”Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in
1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn’t find a single Frenchmen
to show a passport to.”
You could have heard a pin drop.
Filed under Blog Repost - Wonderful Posts, holidays
Beautiful World
“The phrase “working mother” is redundant.” — Jane Sellman
New Animalbook
“An ounce of mother is worth a ton of priest.” — Spanish proverb
New Animalbook
“It is not until you become a mother that your judgment slowly turns to compassion and understanding.” – Erma Bombeck
R.J. Bennett – LinkedIn
“Motherhood has a very humanizing effect. Everything gets reduced to essentials.” Meryl Streep
Journal
“When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.” ~ Sophia Loren
Soul Alchemy
“The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.” ~Rajneesh
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!
I’m of two minds about putting up decorations on our mailbox these days.
One of the school buses comes right by our house, and used to stop at our driveway years ago when our son was attending school here. I think about the kids seeing what we have put up twice each month, hoping they get a kick out of the decorations.
Since the schools are closed, maybe through the end of the school year due to the threat of COVID-19, it may be like throwing a bottle in the ocean. Maybe no one sees our decorations but us and our good mailman.
Now we put them up in a spirit of hope that the world will soon get through this awful time.
Filed under holidays, Lewis Art, Lewis Mailbox Decorations
“If there ever comes a day where we can’t be together, keep me in your heart. I’ll stay there forever.” —Winnie The Pooh
Filed under holidays
When my husband and I first got married over 50 years ago, it used to hurt my feelings that my husband didn’t get me a present or do anything special for occasions, like my birthday, Christmas, our anniversary, Valentine’s Day, etc. I talked to him about it and discovered that HIS parents never did anything, so he grew up not looking at one day any differently than the next.
Then I went through a period where – though my feelings were a bit hurt, I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want him to feel OBLIGATED to get anything for me. He has said he would rather treat me well EVERY day, rather than getting me flowers certain times of the year and calling it done. He gets me things when he finds things he thinks I might like, or calls me over to his computer and asks, “Do you like this?” No special occasion, just doing a really nice thing for me, like the beautiful, sparkly earrings I showed you on another post recently.
Finally, I got smarter. I realized that holidays were special to ME and that their celebration was MY problem. So I started treating myself to something totally useless that I fell in love with for each occasion. It’s always something that I can’t ‘justify’ spending money for, but gives me joy. I was on the net, looking for wonderful examples of wooden sculpture to share on the blog and found this. I immediately fell in love and saw it was for sale from Crate & Barrel. Even though it cost a bit more than I usually spend, I said, “Happy Valentine’s Day, Dear Linda” and hit the put-it-in-the-cart button.
He arrived today and I think he’s beautiful. His beak, legs and feet are brass and the wood of his little body is smooth as silk. I have him sitting in front of my keyboard now so that I can enjoy him when I’m at the computer, as I spend about one-third of my day here.
This is probably an unorthodox way of handling my problem, but it sure works for me. I showed the sweet bird to my husband, hugged his neck, and thanked him. :0)
Filed under holidays
RJ Bennett-LinkedIn
We did errands first thing this morning and are now in for the rest of the day.
We are having a good, quiet Christmas this year. For the past few days, we’ve been delivering presents and visiting with good, long-time friends. It has been really good to catch up, hug a few necks, talk and laugh together. We’re really rich in friends.
Though our son won’t be home from Thailand, we had a super conference call day before yesterday. We chatted about this and that, and most of all, I got to see his FACE. I truly love his face, and trying to make him smile or laugh. When he was home helping us with my husband’s stroke, he took particular care in filling up my hugs bucket to the brim and over-flowing.
Besides going up to continue cleaning my art room – and then, possibly starting some new projects I have rattling around in my head, I gave myself ANOTHER Christmas present. Recently at the exclusive emporium of WalMart, I found a light pink pullover hooded sweatshirt. It was SUPER soft and a really nice weight, so I bought it. One of the wonderful things was that – for the first time in a LOOOOOONG time – I bought it out of the regular women’s clothing department, rather than in my usual special department for ‘ladies-of-more-generous-size.’ I wore it, loved it, and decided I wanted a couple more.
You guessed it – there WEREN’T any more when I went back. I tried to order more online. I thought I had found them, but when they arrived, they were fleece. Heavier than I want for in the house wear. Today, when we stopped there, I FOUND them again! I bought two more. Merry Christmas to me!
Even though our house is nice and warm, I get psychologically chilled sometimes while watching TV. I get a throw to burrow under in my chair. With the sweatshirts, though, I’m much less apt to feel chilled. :0)
I am ready to cook our small Christmas dinner tomorrow. We’ll have enough turkey breast for the celebratory meal, plus – our favorite – sliced turkey for turkey sandwiches for a couple of days.
Today has been quite enjoyable for another reason – I’ve been on Facebook and LinkedIn, two of my favorite websites, and have connected with a lot of folks. Today has been filled with good wishes, nice posts, and good conversations.
Happy Christmas Eve – and Merry Christmas tomorrow. Happy 2nd day (I think) of Hanukkah to more of my good friends. I hope that you are surrounded with love. If not, I’ll be thinking of you and trying to send hugs your way.
Filed under Family, Friendship, holidays, Thoughts on a ________
We are enjoying a quiet Christmas this year. We have spent the last few days taking presents to good friends and visiting and that has been wonderful. We only have one remaining, but our friend is out of town now, so we’ll catch up with her when she returns.
I have a teeny tiny CUTE turkey breast I’ll cook for us on Christmas Day. We’ll also have deviled eggs, dressing, and cranberry sauce.
I’m grateful that we are both healthy enough to enjoy this holiday together.
Merry Christmas!
Filed under Family, Friendship, holidays
istockphoto
And we have water pressure!
After two days of non-stop work, we enjoyed nice hot showers with reasonable pressure last night! We had two big blowouts twice when we were doing a last ‘tightening up’ to stop a couple of drips, so we declared victory the third time and left the drips going. We would like to increase the pressure a bit more, but will wait to do it until we have the leaks stopped. I have called our plumber, who has agreed to come out after Christmas ( We told him this was not an emergency.) We are hoping it will be a quick job for him and a final fix for us. Meanwhile, we’ll monitor things in the well house for any big problems. Ahhhhhh!
Today will be a happy day for us. We’ll go grocery shopping and stop off at a friend’s house to check on them and take a present or two. Later this afternoon, I’ll do it again with another friend. :0)
Otherwise, we will do a lot of resting.
I hope your day is great, too.
Filed under Friendship, holidays, Thoughts on a ________
My friends were griping, asking why I wasn’t making wooden earrings for people without pierced ears, so I decided I would gather materials and give it a try. The ones in the picture above are 3/4″ in diameter, having clip-on hardware.
These earrings are much larger – 1-1/4″ in diameter.
These are a clip-dangle, with a 1-1/4″ disc at the top with a 3/4″ disc attached. The earring length is 2-1/4″.
This picture shows the comparative sizes of the three designs – 3/4″ – 1-1/4″ and 1-1/4 wide x 2-1/4″ long.
If you would like to see more, I’m adding about 17 pairs to my ArtFire shop today. I also have the pierced earrings displayed there.
Each pair is $9.99 with free shipping to the contiguous U.S.
Filed under Holiday Gift Ideas, holidays, Lewis Art
iStock
In about 20 minutes, we are going to Lunch Bunch! This week we’re doing it today, rather than Friday. The Pizza Barn will be open Friday, but not until 3pm, and no salad/pizza/banana pudding bar. 3:00 p.m. is almost dinner time for one of my friends, so we’ll enjoy seeing everyone today.
When we get home, the push will start to get ready for Thanksgiving. It all starts with running the bulldozer…
I’ve told you before that housekeeping is really low on my list of priority activities. When we’re having people over for dinner, I try to get serious about making this place clean enough for others to be comfortable. Dog hair is rampant right now, so I’ve been vacuuming every other day. This is NOT enough for when others come to visit. I’ll scrub bathrooms, vacuum, and do general cleanup of the first floor so that I can concentrate on last minute cleaning and cooking tomorrow.
I hope that you are not having to start with a bulldozer at your home today, and that you have a happy celebration tomorrow.
Filed under Family, Friendship, holidays, Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob
Twisted Copper Creations
Kristin Goings
Housekeeping 101
Halloween Decoration
*”Dem Bones” is a spiritual song. The melody was composed by author and songwriter James Weldon Johnson and his brother, J. Rosamond Johnson. First recorded by The Famous Myers Jubilee Singers in 1928.
Filed under Halloween - How Do You Carve YOUR Pumpkin?, holidays
Cuddly Animals
Hallmark Ideas
The Mad Court Jester
Cuded
Stella T. Falconer – LinkedIn
The “Cat in the Hat” Lady
creativeartworksblog 